Gerardo 'Tata' Martino

Awesome. Crackovia are so goooood

Hey Free do you get Barca magazine? If so can you post scans of the full-fledged version of this article?

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/club/detail/article/gerardo-martino-in-depth

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Hey Free do you get Barca magazine? If so can you post scans of the full-fledged version of this article?

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/club/detail/article/gerardo-martino-in-depth

I do, which month is it?

It will be in catalan...

Nevermind it seems like that is all there is to the article.

Zonal Marking has come out with a tactical summary of Martino that is worth a read and generally correct. It's mostly stuff everyone here knows, but if some fans have not kept up with this season or fans of other clubs are interested they might find it useful.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/10/11/new-managers-martino-at-barcelona/

http://www.sport.es/es/noticias/barca/tata-pone-fin-sistema-multas-pep-guardiola-2766849

Martino is getting rid of Pep era fines. The fines include those for being late to preparation, being late to training and for not being home by midnight the night before a match. The fines were originally instituted when Pep came to a squad with a few unprofessional players he planned to fix. The proceeds used to go towards a charity.

I see why Pep had those fines for players like Rafa Marquez, Ronaldinho etc etc.
but I see this squad as a much mature team, I can't really name the party person in the team, the only one that really comes up is maybe Dani Alves.

In my opinion this is a mistake. It will probably work for a while, but long term, no.

I kind of agree with what's been said. Especially the midnight calling. I can easily see the likes of Pique declining even more now.

Not sure where else to post this:

Well it is a dimension of the game that we needed so much. We never countered, so the teams were comfortable going 'all in' when countering us, as they knew we take time to organize the attack, so they had time to organize the defense.

Beside countering I was hopping to see a bit more pressing, but that was just in the beginning. I get the feeling we are not trying pressing hard enough.

I was talking with a buddy of mine yesterday and we kinda summed up our thoughts about this season’s performance – hence Tata’s contribution.
On the positive side:

- We seem to be defensive solid compared to last year
- More players are consistently involved in goalscorring
- We seem to have added a dimension to our game that our rivals were not prepared for

Negative ones:

- Constant rotation might affect players performance or mentality (although this isn’t the case as of now)
- Some of his decisions indicate that he occasionally picks on names instead of performances

Overall I am happy with his contribution. I think we can only get better

He did a more then impressive job getting the best out of our underperforming players, even managed get Neymar to play good on his first games with us which is very important.
I forgot what rotations looked like due to Tito, Xavi and company get so much rest now compared to last season which is good.
Tata keeps the opposition guessing and we are no longer predictable in big games, example the Madrid game, Madrid stacked the midfield in hope to stop Messi, even played Ramos in the DM spot specifically to close in Messi and what did Tito do? RW the man, leaving Ramos completely headless and unaware of who to mark

Under Martino we are currently undefeated for 17 official games.

With Pep the longest undefeated streak was 21.

Next 5 games:
Milan (home)
Betis (away)
Granada (home)
Ajax (away)
Bilbao (away)

Milan and Bilbao will be tough and if we can beat Milan I can see Tata using a different lineup against Ajax as we should comfortable at the top of the table.

Milan's away record is disgusting I am not too worried about them, Biblao is more random though.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Under Martino we are currently undefeated for 17 official games.

With Pep the longest undefeated streak was 21.

Next 5 games:
Milan (home)
Betis (away)
Granada (home)
Ajax (away)
Bilbao (away)

I would say we will comfortably do it None of those teams really worry at all. The most difficult perhaps Betis away. But with our form atm, shouldnt be any problems

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Hey Free do you get Barca magazine? If so can you post scans of the full-fledged version of this article?

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/club/detail/article/gerardo-martino-in-depth

Sorry about the image quality. My scanner is 10 years old

Language: Catalan

Spoiler:

Thanks, this is perfectly readable

espero q puedan entender.

Yeah I have no major problems with the language. Knowing Spanish and a functional Italian I only struggle with a word every few sentences, and usually I can figure it out on context.

Would I be asking too much for a translation into English?

Probably. Can I get a summary please?

Vibe wrote:What's the call on Martino so far?

I haven't been following football as much as I'd like this year

- 14-4-0 record (34/36 in La Liga, 10/12 in CL)
- won his first trophy in the Supercopa against a strong Atleti
- won his first Clasico
- defense has improved tenfold (least conceding Champions League team in Europe right now)
- team doesn't look as Messi-dependant as last year (Neymar and Sanchez delivering)
- rotation policy
- some variaty added to our overall play, we look to counterattack and exploit space when possible instead of stringing 30 passes together ALL the time, Messi playing on the wing if necessary

Overall play can still improve. Team still needs to figure out when to be direct and when to keep possession. We haven't peaked. But everything is better than last year tbh.

Tata is working with what he has, no matter what happens this season I will hold my whole opinion on him till after next year's summer transfer.

Donuts wrote:Tata is working with what he has, no matter what happens this season I will hold my whole opinion on him till after next year's summer transfer.

As long as he doesn't buy Song and publicly says that he bought him so he could play as a centerback as well, he can't do any wrong to me.

Compared to Vilanova he's been an upgrade in every level but then again a coach with 3rd division experience does not exactly raise the bar that high.

That is not to say Martino's been fantastic. He needs time. His squad has certain flaws and he needs to be active in the transfer window next year.